Mad dogs may wait for the midday sun but Martin Allen is ever on the go, raising the all but dead and moving on. He did it again on Saturday at the Pirelli Stadium, where Barnet beat Burton Albion 2-1 to stay in League Two. It is the third year running Barnet have secured their league status on the last day. It is the second in succession that Allen has had a hand in it. Hereford United instead, despite beating Torquay, drop into the Blue Square Bet Premier.

A year ago Allen was drafted in for the last eight games. After three that yielded seven points and consecutive wins for the first time in 76 games, he jumped at a better offer from Notts County in League One and lifted them from 21st to 19th. His rescue wand knew no limits. County were 11th when he was dismissed in February.

As Barnet slipped from 17th at the end of January to 22nd under Lawrie Sanchez, with eight points from 16 games, the chairman, Anthony Kleanthous, waited until there were three games left before preferring pragmatism to pride. It worked. Allen saw out his contract, which expired at 5pm, and Barnet stay up. At 5.30 the warm embrace of chairman and manager spoke volumes for forgiveness and motivation.

It was an afternoon of agonising tension to which the Pirelli is growing accustomed through no fault of Burton. Two years ago, at the end of their first league season, they sent Grimsby down to the Conference. Fifty-odd fans are still paying the price for damage. Barnet came with balloons and the knowledge that a win was enough but also necessary if Hereford won.

An early lead from Mark Byrne's free-kick did little to draw them out of a nervy start. Jacques Maghoma equalised and Calvin Zola wasted a penalty for Burton before half-time, when Hereford led 3-0.

Cue Allen's magic – crucially a positional swap that took Michael Hector to right-back and Byrne's bite into midfield to support the trojan captain, Mark Hughes, and tricky winger, Ricky Holmes. Barnet were transformed. On the hour Holmes glided to the byline and Hughes guided into the net. At the same time Torquay pulled back to 3-2 at Hereford. Fans were once all ears for scores elsewhere. Here they watched their mobiles almost as anxiously as the match in front of them.

Izale McLeod, the division's top scorer and a half-time substitute, could have made the remainder more comfortable. As it was, in the 92nd minute there was a last heart-in-mouth moment as Patrick Ada, once of Barnet, sent a fiery header to the top right corner. Dean Brill, billed as 6ft 1in, seemed twice that with a stretching left hand to tip away. He denied it was his best save ever but it was worth an estimated £500,000 to Barnet. Hertfordshire not Herefordshire had survived and Barnet enter their last season at Underhill still a league club.

Allen took no credit and let the players celebrate in front of their fans. He admitted on coming back that he saw things differently from supporters. "I can understand they were upset last year," he said. "Barnet is the love of their life. For managers it is a job. It was a difficult decision to leave but, if a better offer comes along, people generally take it. The public have a perception that, if you're a football manager, you're absolutely minted. I'm not."

At the moment he is absolutely free and raring to go. "I'll spend the weekend at my sister's and see what happens after that," he said. "I don't like doing nothing." He was also "so proud of everyone involved. People will probably say it was another mad moment of mine but I'm not going to change my thinking. The players were the ones who had to make the difference. It's a unique feeling, making 1,000 fans happy, seeing the players who worked so hard sharing their achievement with the fans who care so much. I suppose I endure it at the time and enjoy it when it comes out right."

With Allen it usually does, and not only on the field. At County he was praised for his work in the community, and his management team there were at Burton on Saturday to support him. He shows a healthy credit on wins to losses in most of his posts over nine years, including another at Barnet in the Conference. If the FA had not rushed to appoint Roy Hodgson, he could have been just the Englishman to get the country through three matches to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.